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Williams Withdraws NESE Pipe Permit in NJ, Resubmit Soon

Williams has temporarily withdrawn three of four applications with the New Jersey Dept. of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) to build its Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) pipeline project. Just last month NJDEP gave Williams an extra month with the permits (see Williams Gets Extra Month to Refile NESE Pipeline Permits in NJ). Williams says it will refile the three permits “in the next few days.”
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Cuomo Goes Berserk, Seeks to Cancel National Grid’s Gas Franchise

Andrew Cuomo is a desperate man. There’s nothing as dangerous as a cornered leftist politician whose policies have been revealed to cause pain and suffering for the very people he’s supposed to serve. That’s what has happened to man-child Andy–and desperate politicians who have been exposed for all to see do crazy things. In Andy’s case, he goes berserk. Cuomo has instructed his own state Public Service Commission (PSC) to look for ways to revoke the operating license of utility company National Grid, which supplies natural gas to all of Long Island (and the NYC boroughs that sit on Long Island, Brooklyn and Queens). Why?
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Range Resources 3Q – Production Up Slightly, Spending Down

Spending went down, but natural gas production went up slightly (3%) at the very first Marcellus driller, Range Resources, in 3Q19. The company previously forecast it would spend $756 million in 3Q but spent $736 million instead. The savings came “as a result of continued efficiency gains, water savings, and service cost improvements.” The company connected 22 new wells in the Marcellus to production in 3Q19, the same number they connected in 3Q18. Our takeaway: the company is doing more, producing more, with less resources. Getting more efficient.
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Cabot O&G 3Q – Production & Free Cash Flow Up, Spending Down

Cabot Oil & Gas, one of our favorite Marcellus drillers, continued to impress during 3Q19. The company reports free cash flow popped 150% higher than 3Q18–even though the price of natural gas was down 23% over the same period last year. Production was 2.3 billion cubic feet per day, all of it dry natural gas. They drilled 22 new Marcellus wells (in Susquehanna County, PA) and completed 29 wells, which means they’re drawing down their DUC (drilled but uncompleted) well inventory.
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Southwestern Energy 3Q – Production Up, Spending Down a Lot

Southwestern Energy, now a pure play driller focused on the Marcellus/Utica since selling off their Fayetteville Shale assets in Sept. 2018, produced 2.2 billion cubic feet equivalent per day (Bcfe/d) of natural gas in 3Q19, up from 2.0 Bcfe/d in 3Q18. (Those numbers remove the Fayetteville to compare apples to apples.) Southwestern drilled 24 new Marcellus and/or Utica wells and completed 30 wells in 3Q, which means, like other drillers, they continue to draw down their DUC (drilled but uncompleted) well inventory. Unlike Cabot which produces 100% dry gas, some 22% of Southwestern’s production was natural gas liquids.
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The Real Costs of PA Gov. Wolf’s Carbon Tax by Joining RGGI

Opposition to Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s plan to have PA join with northeastern states in the so-called Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) continues. Big opposition. Earlier this month Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf went completely off his rocker with a power-grab to force PA into a regional alliance to tax natural gas-fired electric plants out of existence (see Gov. Wolf Goes Bonkers: EO Destroying Gas-Fired Elec, Carbon Tax). The reaction was swift–on both sides of the issue (see Reaction to Gov. Wolf’s Bonkers Plan to Strangle NatGas Elec Plants). Reaction against the plan continues. The Indiana County, PA Board of Commissioners recently adopted a unanimous resolution against Wolf’s foolish plan, laying out in dollars and cents the very high cost such a plan will have on the county (in lost taxes and lost jobs).
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PennEast Pipe Rejection May Lead to Service Denials & Blackouts

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo followed a blindly stupid political philosophy of anti-fossil fuelism by blocking the Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) pipeline, with tragic consequences–thousands of potential natgas customers who cannot connect to the local utility. Is New Jersey heading for the same scenario under Gov. Phil Murphy? If the state rejects the PennEast Pipeline, that answer is a resounding YES. We’ve seen this movie before.
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Shale Energy Stories of Interest: Mon, Oct 28, 2019

MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Trout Unlimited attacks Mariner East pipe in bid to block Constitution, PennEast; President Trump’s remarks at Shale Insight Conference in Pittsburgh (video); Marcellus fracking means farewell to Dems in 2020; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: More propane-consuming PDH plants are on the way; NATIONAL: Jane Fonda and her new ‘trainee’ Ted Danson are arrested in climate protests; Production up, emissions down (video); Freefall in U.S. oil, gas patch picks up speed as 21 rigs exit; Small oil-and-gas companies get cold shoulder from large banks; Shale Slump: Patterson-UTI pulls 36 rigs from service; Flowing shale wells sooner would add billions to sector cash flow; Why is the United States importing natural gas from Russia?; Quantifying the impact of a fracking ban on U.S. gas production; INTERNATIONAL: China’s bid for commodity price clout extends to natural gas.
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